In past, lightning has been a killer in St. Mary’s

Friday, June 6, 2008

He heard thunder very close by and felt a shock to his hand. He didn’t know it at first, but he’d been struck by lightning.

‘‘It hit the top of an umbrella I was holding,” he said recently. It had a metal tip and a plastic handle. ‘‘I just dropped it. It just numbed me and dazed me a little bit.”

The rescue squad arrived, but Corbin refused a ride to the hospital. His supervisor inside the credit union witnessed the bolt hitting the top of Corbin’s umbrella; otherwise he didn’t know he was struck.

He was told that his rubber-soled shoes probably saved his life, coupled with the fact he was not in standing water.

These days, he is not scared of lightning, but he respects it. When a storm comes around, ‘‘I’m getting out of there – not hanging around,” he said. ‘‘It doesn’t scare me, but I’m not going to fool with it.”

Floods kill more Americans than any other storm-related phenomena; then comes lightning.

An American living to the age of 80 has a 1 in 5,000 chance of being struck by lightning, much better odds than winning the Maryland Lottery.

Structures were burned Wednesday night but there were no injuries reported from lightning strikes when a series of storms ripped through St. Mary’s County, but at least 12 people have been struck dead by lightning here since 1749.

In the past 10 years, St. Mary’s Hospital has treated six people after lightning strikes. The latest was in June 2006, said Holly Meyer, director of public relations. ‘‘All six of them lived,” she said.

In 1940, 340 Americans were killed by lightning and that number has constantly been dropping. But by 1995, heat was blamed for killing 1,021 Americans.

Topper Shutt, meteorologist with CBS television affiliate WUSA in Washington, D.C., said he wasn’t sure why heat fatalities are on the rise, but it may have to do with a lack of record keeping before 1986.

As for lightning deaths decreasing, he said, ‘‘I believe those numbers have dropped because of better public awareness and the fact that we are more of a modern society and are sheltered in buildings.”

Bob Ryan, meteorologist with NBC television affiliate WRC, also in Washington, said people now know when danger is in the air. ‘‘I think the warnings for severe thunderstorms and severe weather with lightning has gotten much better over the years, and also through education. People who are outside are certainly more aware of the lightning danger,” he said.

The last record found in St. Mary’s of a lightning death came on June 29, 1951, when a 21-year-old sailor was killed outside the recreation center at Patuxent River Naval Air Station. The St. Mary’s Beacon reported on March 20, 1913, the death of J. Lewis Sampson when he and his horse were struck by lightning while Lewis was checking his mail. The report did not include a location. Ten years earlier, Nathan Chappelear of Charlotte Hall was killed by lightning at one of his farms in Benedict.

Another man, Charlie Pomeroy and his horse were killed at an unspecified cornfield in St. Mary’s on June 13, 1896. The year before, 19-year-old Luke Dorsey was killed by lightning off St. Clement’s Bay. His brother and he were running to take cover, but only Phil H. Dorsey Jr. made it. He was a different Dorsey than the late circuit court judge who was the father of former State’s Attorney Walter Dorsey.

Staying on the top floor of a building in St. Inigoes, three students from Woodstock College were electrocuted in a storm on July 6, 1891.

John Milburn, judge of the orphan’s court was killed May 23, 1889, at an unnamed location.

Near Leonardtown, an unidentified man and his horse were struck on Oct. 17, 1848.

The Maryland Gazette, a newspaper in Annapolis, reported tragedy from St. Mary’s. Thomas Rabling and his wife were killed sitting under a mulberry tree near the head of ‘‘Jowle’s Creek” in the area of Trent Hall. Five others under the tree were also injured.

The worst incident of death from lightning in Maryland came in the skies over the state. A Boeing 707 airliner, en route from Puerto Rico to Philadelphia stopped in Baltimore. Ten minutes after taking off again, the plane was struck by lightning. The flaming wreckage crashed in Elkton, killing all 81 aboard on Dec. 8, 1963.